View source for Ardre image stones

{{short description|Runestone}}
[[Image:Bildstenen Volundstenen.jpg|right|thumb|200px|The largest of the Ardre image stones is Ardre VIII.]]
The '''Ardre image stones''' are a collection of ten [[runestone|rune]] and [[image stone]]s, dated to the 8th to 11th centuries, that were discovered at [[Ardre Church]], in [[Ardre, Gotland|Ardre]], [[Gotland]], Sweden. The principal edition is by [[Sune Lindqvist]].<ref>S. Lindqvist, ''Gotlands Bildsteine I'' (Stockholm 1941).</ref>

==Description==
The Ardre image stones were re-used as paving under the wooden floors of the local church in the Ardre parish of [[Gotland]]. Before the historical significance of rune and image stones was understood or appreciated, they were often used as materials in the construction of roads, bridges, and buildings. The image stones were re-discovered when the church was being restored around 1900. The stones are now preserved in the [[Swedish Museum of National Antiquities]] in [[Stockholm]].
[[File:Ardre bildsten - Historiska museet - 108199 HST - 415725.jpg|thumb|Ardre VIII detail showing the [[forge]] of Weyland.]]

===Ardre VIII===
The largest and most noted of the stones is the Ardre VIII stone, dated to the 8th<ref>*{{Cite book |last=Sørensen |first=Preben M. |others=Williams, Kirsten (trans.) |editor-last=Acker |editor-first=Paul |editor2-last=Larrington |editor2-first=Carolyne |contribution=Þorr's Fishing Expedition (Hymiskviða) |title=The Poetic Edda: Essays on Old Norse Mythology |publisher=Routledge |year=2002 |page=123 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j4bufbA_UpQC&pg=PP1 |isbn=0-8153-1660-7}}</ref> or 9th century. It depicts scenes from [[Norse mythology]], notably the [[Völundarkviða|Lay of Weyland the smith]], [[Thor]] fishing for [[Jörmungandr]], the punishment of [[Loki]] for the death of [[Baldr]],<ref name="Jesch">{{Cite book |last=Jesch |first=Judith |title=Women in the Viking Age |publisher=Boydell Press |year=1991 |location=Woodbridge |page=128 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9xpNRpI9zFoC |isbn=978-0-85115-360-5}}</ref> and [[Odin]] riding to [[Valhalla]] on [[Sleipnir]]. Other images on this stone, such as the woman on the right with two swords, are not currently understood as they do not conform to any known Norse myth that has survived to the present time.<ref name="Jesch"/> The image-stone's [[longboat]] [[Motif (visual arts)|motif]] with its mariners somewhat resembles a depiction found on the [[Överhogdal tapestries|Överhogdal tapestry]] No. III from [[Härjedalen]]. The main study of this stone is by Ludwig Buisson.<ref>Ludwig Buisson, ''Der Bildstein Ardre VIII auf Gotland: Göttermythen, Heldensagen und Jenseitsglaube der Germanen im 8. Jahrhundert n. Chr.'', Abhandlungen der Akademie der Wissenschaften in Göttingen, Philologisch-historische Klasse, third series, 102 (Göttingen 1976).</ref>

===Ardre III===
[[File:Fornsalen - Runenstein früh.jpg|thumb|200px|right|Side B of Ardre III.]]
The inscription on one of the two sides of the Ardre III [[runestone]], which is listed in [[Rundata]] as '''Gotland Runic Inscription 113''', consists of twin figure eight serpents with runic text in a band on the edge of the stone, while the second side has a single intertwined serpent with runic text on the edge of the stone. The inscription is classified as probably being in [[runestone style]] Pr3. The runic text, which is signed by a [[runemaster]] with the [[Runic transliteration and transcription|normalized]] name of Likraiv, indicates that it was raised as a memorial with different sponsors for the inscriptions on each side of the stone.

====Inscription====

=====Transliteration of the runes into Latin characters=====
:'''§A ÷ utar + ak + kaiʀuatr + ak + aiuatr + þaʀ + setu + stain + ebtir + likna(t) + faþur ÷ sen +'''
:'''§B ÷ raþialbr + ak + kaiʀaiau(t)- + þaiʀ kiarþu + merki + kuþ + ubtir + man + saaran ÷ likraibr + risti + runaʀ'''<ref name="Rundata">[http://www.nordiska.uu.se/forskn/samnord.htm Project Samnordisk Runtextdatabas Svensk] – [[Rundata]] entry for G 113.</ref>

=====Transcription into Old Norse=====
:''§A Ottarr ok Gæiʀhvatr ok Æihvatr þæiʀ sattu stæin æftiʀ Liknhvat, faður sinn.''
:''§B Raðþialfʀ ok Gæiʀniut[r] þæiʀ gærðu mærki goð æftiʀ mann snaran. Liknræifʀ risti runaʀ.''<ref name="Rundata"/>

=====Translation in English=====
:§A Óttarr and Geirhvatr and Eihvatr, they placed the stone in memory of Líknhvatr, their father.
:§B Ráðþjalfr and Geirnjótr, they made the good landmark in memory of ... man. Líknreifr carved the runes.<ref name="Rundata"/>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.arild-hauge.com/arild-hauge/go-rune-ardre.jpg Photo of Ardre VIII]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070318111356/http://www.hi.is/~eybjorn/ugm/hymir/arhym.html Ardre VIII]
*[http://www.kms.raa.se/cocoon/bild/show-image.html?id=16000300013413 Photograph of Ardre III side A] – [[Swedish National Heritage Board]]
*[http://www.kms.raa.se/cocoon/bild/show-image.html?id=16000300013414 Photograph of Ardre III side B] – Swedish National Heritage Board
*[http://www.catshamans.se/0bildst3.htm 700 – 900 bildsten Gotland] (Swedish)

[[Category:8th-century inscriptions]]
[[Category:9th-century inscriptions]]
[[Category:Rune- and picture stones on Gotland]]
[[Category:Thor in art]]
[[Category:Collection of the Swedish History Museum]]